Published on January 25, 2025
The Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG) has launched its Competency Development Programmes for 2025, aligned with the TBEM 2.0 framework. The first-time assessor programmes - Business Excellence Assessor Programme (BEAP) and Subject Matter Assessor Programme (SMEAP)—kicked off in early February in Mumbai.
These programmes build on the updates introduced in the TBEM Reference Manual 2025-26, which incorporates new questions reflecting Tata group’s key focus areas following the unveiling of TBEM 2.0 at the Business Excellence Convention (BEC) 2023.
This year, the content for both BEAP and SMEAP programmes has been revamped to focus on areas critical to effective insights gathering, enabling better process and result assessments. Participants explored topics such as identifying and monitoring quality through Critical to Process (CTP) and Critical to Quality (CTQ) factors, understanding causation and correlation, leveraging results for process evaluation and feedback gathering and commenting. Key changes in the 2025 assessment processes were also shared with the participants.
BEAP: Developing future Business Excellence Assessors
The BEAP programme took place from February 4-7, 2025, at Taj Trees in Mumbai, with the objective of equipping high-performing Tata managers with the skills to become Business Excellence Assessors. Designed to strengthen leadership capabilities, the four-day programme brought together 21 participants from various Group companies including Tata AutoComp, Tata International, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Communications, Tata Consulting Engineers, Tata Asset Management, Tata 1mg, Tata Play, Trent, Tata Services, Voltas, and Universal MEP Projects & Engineering Services Limited.
Facilitated by Sayantan Roy, General Manager, TBExG, and Tanya Rego, Deputy General Manager, TBExG, the programme covered different phases of the assessment process providing an in-depth underatandong of the various tools used. The facilitators made the sessions exciting, engaging, and experiential, incorporating games, breakout sessions, role-plays and quizzes.
Anirban Chatterjee, Deputy Head, Business Excellence, Trent Limited, shared his insights as a Deputy Leader and experienced assessor. He spoke about his journey as an assessor over the years, its impact on his professional growth, and the expectations from first-time assessors. He also provided insights on preparation strategies and how assessors can contribute to improving assessment outcomes. The session concluded with two online quizzes.
SMEAP: Enabling Subject Matter Experts as Assessors
The SMEAP programme was conducted from February 12-14, 2025, at Learning Galaxy in Mumbai, bringing together participants from various Group companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Projects, Tata Asset Management, Tata Teleservices, and Universal MEP Projects & Engineering Services Limited. The programme aimed to enable senior functional leaders with domain expertise to become Business Excellence Assessors and provide actionable insights.
This year, the SMEAP programme’s learning pedagogy was enhanced to reflect the evolving role and expectations of subject matter experts (SMEs) in the assessment process. Experiential learning through breakout sessions and role plays provided a deeper understanding of the assessment process and tools used.
Kapildev Iyer, Vice President, Marketing, Tata Teleservices, shared his journey from being an SMEAP participant in February 2024 to becoming the “Rising Star Assessor” of the year 2024. He also shared insights from his first BE assessment in 2024, emphasising the importance of commitment during the assessment period. He encouraged senior leaders to set aside their leadership roles and think like TBEM assessors. The programme was facilitated by Sayantan Roy, General Manager, TBExG and Dr Shreyas Srivatsan, Deputy General Manager, TBExG.
Upcoming training opportunities
TBExG has planned additional open SMEAP and BEAP programmes in February and March, along with specialised sessions for HR and Cybersecurity professionals over the next two months. All qualified assessors will be considered in the teaming process of 2025 assessments.
For more details on registration and nomination processes, please contact Nalini Tolar at ntolar@tata.com.
